The evolution of microelectronic systems over the last few decades has taken the direction of increasing functionality by reducing lithographic dimensions, following Moore's law. For less than a decade, it has been possible to add functionalities to a microelectronic system using the possibilities offered by integration in the vertical dimension, so-called 3D integration. This increase in the density of integration of electronic components in the three available dimensions has had as a direct consequence, namely increased power density that results in generating an increase in the temperature of the transistor junctions, and in the operating temperature of the chip in general.
Known electronic components include a substrate that extends essentially in a plane called the “substrate plane,” this substrate being equipped with electrical connections to connect the electronic component to an electronic circuit, this substrate having an upper face, at least one electronic chip arranged on the upper face of the substrate and/or inside the substrate and electrically connected to electrical connections by way of this substrate, and a package mainly formed by a thick layer of electrically insulating material covering an upper face of the substrate and/or at least one part of the electronic chip. The electronic circuit is typically a printed circuit or an integrated circuit.
To cool the electronic chip of such an electronic component, provision has already been made for producing networks of channels inside of which a heat transfer liquid is made to flow. This solution is bulky and consumes power to make the heat transfer liquid flow inside the channels.
To remedy this drawback, passive solutions have been proposed. These passive solutions implement heat-absorbing materials such as PCMs (Phase-Change Materials).
These passive solutions make it possible to absorb heat when the temperature of the electronic chip increases and to release the heat stored by the heat absorber when the temperature of the electronic chip decreases. Passive solutions therefore mainly make it possible to smooth the temperature variations of the electronic chip, but not necessarily to cool it. These passive solutions are well-suited to electronic components intended to be integrated into appliances, such as mobile phones for example, in which the increase of the temperature of the electronic chip is only temporary.
However, integrating a heat-absorbing material into an electronic component is complex, especially as it is often desired to integrate a large amount of heat-absorbing material into the electronic component. It is moreover desirable to improve the effectiveness of the temperature smoothing.